If we are serious about Global Britain, we must recognise that international students bring huge benefits to our universities, our local economies and our soft power.
There is no precedent of an advanced economy withdrawing from a trade agreement as deep and as complex as the European Union.
Brexit was meant to be about taking back control, we are ceding control; it was meant to be about trade deals, we are not going to have any meaningful trade deals; it was meant to be about having a turbo-charged tiger economy on the edge of Europe, we are going to be bound by the common rule book that we won't have a hand in shaping.
You really don't throw a ministerial job away lightly.
The case for Brexit was made on rhetorical flourishes and promises and bluster. A lot of promises on which people voted have turned out to be undeliverable. It was a false prospectus.
What is so clearly in the national interest is everything the government is doing in its strong, one nation domestic policy agenda: more police on the streets, more doctors and nurses in our hospitals, a welcoming face to scientists and international students.
